Sony’s intriguing LittleBigPlanet project has garnered quite a growing buzz around the gaming world over the last few months and with each morsel of information released has gotten closer to becoming a surefire hit. After spending some extensive, joyful, and insanely obsessive hands-on time with the online beta I can safely say this game will not only be a successful hit and the birth of a new fan-favorite franchise but a perfect example of what heights online communities and content can aspire to.

LBP is essentially a classic 2D side scrolling platformer, except with three units of depth to the screen, shifted through by the player with the up or down button. Gameplay consists largely of basic running, jumping, grabbing/pulling/pushing items and hitting switches. The simplicity obviously works well for the genre, and is more than counterbalanced by the extremely deep features that make the game so unique.

One such feature of the game is the intense focus on collectibles. Throughout levels, in places both obvious and obscure, lie collectible pickups that are added to the players menu after completion of that level. Pickups aren’t simply for collection sake, as a wealth of different objects that expand the functionality of the game such as unlocked objects in the level creator can be found as well.

The level creator packaged in the game is both simple and incredibly robust. Its also a blast to use, as the tool set provided really lets the imagination of the creator go wild, especially if a large amount of extra components have already been collected. As time goes on after the official release, the growing depth of content is going to allow for a very, very large construction set at a rapid rate.

The main reason for this is the community aspect of the game. Every player has the ability to create new collectibles of their own and insert them into the levels that they have made and shared with the world. The larger the community grows, the more the collectible aspect of the game will skew toward infinite.

Even with the limited amount (5800) of participants in the beta program, the online community aspect of LBP is fascinating and engaging. Player-created levels that are shared online are displayed on a cartoonish representation of the globe, with an icon to access the creators maps placed at the geographical spot the creator lives. I played some South American and African levels that were absolutely astounding in creative terms. While there were a few uninspired, boring or hastily made levels to be found, on the whole the levels I found online were very satisfying and at times brilliant.

The amount of player-created content generated upon release will be staggering. Luckily, there is a tag system in place that forces players to give each level they play a one-word description upon completion. A search function of the tags allows players to find exactly what they are in the mood for and a way to navigate the massive ocean of content that is imminent.

Another component of LBP that is so compelling is the four-player online coop mode, and how fluid a “party” gets together. Players always have the option to play any level alone if desired, but when online mode is selected other players will begin to drop in to the level you are playing. By default they will simply tag along with you from level to level until they decide to go elsewhere. The fun of picking up three companions and hopping from level to level with seamless ease is very addictive. It’s probably as close as we will ever get to an MMO platformer.

The small sample of the game included in the beta, once experienced, can lead to very lofty predictions of what the finished product should contain. Even with the most tempered expectations, the possibilities presented between a likely robust base set, probable updated content from the developer and a potentially infinite amount of contribution from the fanbase this game could truly emerge as one of the most depthy game experiences of all time. Currently, we are slated to find out the answer when the game releases October 21.